The 20th century bears the indelible imprint of both communism and Nazism; today it seems as if the former is all but forgotten, at least among Western elites, while our cultural memory of the latter is inextinguishable. In his wise and elegant meditation, French political thinker Alain Besançon attempts to explain this inequality, at the same time arguing why, even when knowing the full extent of communism's crimes, the uniqueness of the Shoah ought to be accepted without reservation.

"Emphasizing that communism and Nazism are 'two species of the same genus, the ideological genus,' Besançon compares how wielders of those ideologies wrought physical, moral, and political destruction wherever they ruled. Both ideologies mimicked theology in their claims to be prosecuting perfection, and real religions must be brought into the discussion to understand the difference in how communism and Nazism are remembered.... A brilliantly enlightening exposition."—Booklist